[ FRESH PRODUCE ]

Dignitaries look at boxes of Alpine Fresh blueberries ready for shipment during a tour for the open house and ribbon cutting ceremony for the Fresh Star Packing & Cold Storage facility in Auburndale last month.

Published: Sunday, April 7, 2013 at 8:16 p.m.

Last Modified: Sunday, April 7, 2013 at 8:16 p.m.

AUBURNDALE | Randy Knapp went into the March 2010 real estate auction looking to buy about 20 acres to grow blueberries.

He emerged with about 260 acres and an international business.

"We felt it (260 acres) was a great value. We thought we could master plan the property and do something nice," said Knapp, a partner in his family's company, Five-Star Family Growers, an Auburndale blueberry farm.

Five-Star realized the first fruits of its master plan on March 28, when it held a grand opening ceremony for more than 60 people, including Polk County Commissioner Melony Bell and Auburndale Mayor Richard Hamann, at the new Fresh Star Packing and Cold Storage facility at 361 Denton Ave. in Auburndale. Fresh Star is a partnership between Knapp's company and Alpine Fresh Inc., a Doral produce grower and packer.

The facility has the capacity to pack 2.5 million pounds during the roughly six-week blueberry season, Knapp said. It will employ 15 people full-time, including six Knapp family members, plus seasonal employees.

After the Florida blueberry season ends next month, Fresh Star will bring in blueberries from Alpine's regular foreign suppliers in Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Chile and Argentina, said CEO Walter Yager. The Auburndale plant will handle imported blueberries from September through March, when the new Florida blueberry harvest begins.

"The international market is very important to our future plans," Knapp said. "There's no way we could understand that market without a partner like Alpine."

Yager said he and his partner, Jose Sanchez, started Alpine 25 years ago after working as produce brokers. Alpine now grows, packs and ships nearly 100 million pounds of blueberries, tomatoes, mangos and asparagus across the U.S.

The Fresh Star plant is the first private facility to open in the Polk Commerce Centre since the 2,508-acre development began in the late 1990s, said Perry Clouse, the county's community redevelopment agency manager.

The plant opening was a milestone in breaking the logjam and paving the way for further manufacturing, retail and residential development in the Commerce Centre, Clouse said.

"I think it will be the catalyst that starts the development," he said.

Also spurring development there, Clouse added, will be its neighbors: the Lake Myrtle Sports Park run by Polk County Sports Marketing on the east and Florida Polytechnic University now under construction to the north along Interstate 4.

The Knapps started on the journey toward Fresh Star with far more modest plans.

Five-Star has roots extending back a century to a family farm in southern Michigan, which grew soybeans, wheat, tomatoes, corn and sugar beets, Knapp said. The family sold the farm in the 1970s and moved to Polk County, where it got into real estate development.

The Knapps didn't get too far away from farming, he said. His father, Don Knapp, started raising quarter and miniature horses in the 1980s.

And their company, Heard-Knapp Development, developed the Schalamar Creek Golf and Country Club in Lakeland and ran it for 23 years until 2011, Knapp said. Managing a golf course involves many of the same skills, such as irrigation and managing pests and diseases.

Then a few years ago, the Knapps decided they wanted to return to commercial farming and chose blueberries, one of the fastest growing agriculture commodities in Florida and the U.S, he said.

They found the 260-acre Polk Nursery property, an Auburndale ornamental plants nursery, would go up for auction in March 2010, Knapp said. It would be sold in 11 different parcels, and the Knapps grabbed an 80-acre section.

After selling all 11 parcels, the auctioneer offered to sell the entire 260 acres to anyone who would outbid the 11 purchasers.

Clouse said he remembers the Knapp family huddling together during the break, then submitting the $3.5 million winning bid to buy the entire property.

Water wells and other quality infrastructure already available for agriculture plus a location near major highways convinced the family the property offered an opportunity beyond growing blueberries, Knapp said.

After the sale closed in January 2011, the Knapps began developing that master plan and began searching for a partner with packinghouse experience, he said. That led them to Yager and Alpine late last summer.

The two companies formed a partnership by December, and construction of the Fresh Star packinghouse began in January, Knapp said.

"I couldn't believe we got it done so fast," Yager told the grand opening audience. "We chose to partner here not because it was easy. We chose to partner here because of the work ethic both companies share. We're going to work harder than anyone."

Five-Star has already planted 70 acres and plans to reach 100 by the end of summer, Knapp said.

In addition to its import partners, Fresh Star has already contracted to pack for one other Florida blueberry grower, Knapp said, and it plans to add many more by the 2014 season.

"We're excited about partnering with the Alpine family," he said. "They're going to open doors we never envisioned."

[ Kevin Bouffard can be reached at kevin.bouffard@theledger.com or at 863-401-6980. Read about Florida citrus on his Facebook page, Florida Citrus Witness, http://bit.ly/baxWuU. ]

<p>AUBURNDALE | Randy Knapp went into the March 2010 real estate auction looking to buy about 20 acres to grow blueberries.</p><p>He emerged with about 260 acres and an international business.</p><p>"We felt it (260 acres) was a great value. We thought we could master plan the property and do something nice," said Knapp, a partner in his family's company, Five-Star Family Growers, an Auburndale blueberry farm.</p><p>Five-Star realized the first fruits of its master plan on March 28, when it held a grand opening ceremony for more than 60 people, including Polk County Commissioner Melony Bell and Auburndale Mayor Richard Hamann, at the new Fresh Star Packing and Cold Storage facility at 361 Denton Ave. in Auburndale. Fresh Star is a partnership between Knapp's company and Alpine Fresh Inc., a Doral produce grower and packer.</p><p>The facility has the capacity to pack 2.5 million pounds during the roughly six-week blueberry season, Knapp said. It will employ 15 people full-time, including six Knapp family members, plus seasonal employees.</p><p>After the Florida blueberry season ends next month, Fresh Star will bring in blueberries from Alpine's regular foreign suppliers in Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Chile and Argentina, said CEO Walter Yager. The Auburndale plant will handle imported blueberries from September through March, when the new Florida blueberry harvest begins.</p><p>"The international market is very important to our future plans," Knapp said. "There's no way we could understand that market without a partner like Alpine."</p><p>Yager said he and his partner, Jose Sanchez, started Alpine 25 years ago after working as produce brokers. Alpine now grows, packs and ships nearly 100 million pounds of blueberries, tomatoes, mangos and asparagus across the U.S.</p><p>The Fresh Star plant is the first private facility to open in the Polk Commerce Centre since the 2,508-acre development began in the late 1990s, said Perry Clouse, the county's community redevelopment agency manager.</p><p>The plant opening was a milestone in breaking the logjam and paving the way for further manufacturing, retail and residential development in the Commerce Centre, Clouse said.</p><p>"I think it will be the catalyst that starts the development," he said.</p><p>Also spurring development there, Clouse added, will be its neighbors: the Lake Myrtle Sports Park run by Polk County Sports Marketing on the east and Florida Polytechnic University now under construction to the north along Interstate 4.</p><p>The Knapps started on the journey toward Fresh Star with far more modest plans.</p><p>Five-Star has roots extending back a century to a family farm in southern Michigan, which grew soybeans, wheat, tomatoes, corn and sugar beets, Knapp said. The family sold the farm in the 1970s and moved to Polk County, where it got into real estate development.</p><p>The Knapps didn't get too far away from farming, he said. His father, Don Knapp, started raising quarter and miniature horses in the 1980s.</p><p>And their company, Heard-Knapp Development, developed the Schalamar Creek Golf and Country Club in Lakeland and ran it for 23 years until 2011, Knapp said. Managing a golf course involves many of the same skills, such as irrigation and managing pests and diseases.</p><p>Then a few years ago, the Knapps decided they wanted to return to commercial farming and chose blueberries, one of the fastest growing agriculture commodities in Florida and the U.S, he said.</p><p>They found the 260-acre Polk Nursery property, an Auburndale ornamental plants nursery, would go up for auction in March 2010, Knapp said. It would be sold in 11 different parcels, and the Knapps grabbed an 80-acre section.</p><p>After selling all 11 parcels, the auctioneer offered to sell the entire 260 acres to anyone who would outbid the 11 purchasers.</p><p>Clouse said he remembers the Knapp family huddling together during the break, then submitting the $3.5 million winning bid to buy the entire property.</p><p>Water wells and other quality infrastructure already available for agriculture plus a location near major highways convinced the family the property offered an opportunity beyond growing blueberries, Knapp said.</p><p>After the sale closed in January 2011, the Knapps began developing that master plan and began searching for a partner with packinghouse experience, he said. That led them to Yager and Alpine late last summer.</p><p>The two companies formed a partnership by December, and construction of the Fresh Star packinghouse began in January, Knapp said.</p><p>"I couldn't believe we got it done so fast," Yager told the grand opening audience. "We chose to partner here not because it was easy. We chose to partner here because of the work ethic both companies share. We're going to work harder than anyone."</p><p>Five-Star has already planted 70 acres and plans to reach 100 by the end of summer, Knapp said.</p><p>In addition to its import partners, Fresh Star has already contracted to pack for one other Florida blueberry grower, Knapp said, and it plans to add many more by the 2014 season.</p><p>"We're excited about partnering with the Alpine family," he said. "They're going to open doors we never envisioned."</p><p>[ Kevin Bouffard can be reached at kevin.bouffard@theledger.com or at 863-401-6980. Read about Florida citrus on his Facebook page, Florida Citrus Witness, http://bit.ly/baxWuU. ]</p>